Sihle Mavuso presents the latest news from KwaZulu-Natal.
Pietermaritzburg – A reply provided by Bongi Sithole-Moloi, the KwaZulu-Natal MEC for Cooperative Governance and Traditional Affairs to the DA, has revealed how the eight administrators deployed to turn struggling municipalities in the province around are making a lot of money. This is despite all of them having failed to improve the municipalities’ fortunes for almost a decade since they were deployed. Sithole-Moloi’s reply to the DA’s Martin Meyer revealed that the administrator of the Umzinyathi district municipality, Themba Mavundla, is earning a monthly salary of R127,000. This is despite having a security background and no municipal finance or administration qualifications or experience.
Esikhawini – Umhlathuze has justified its move to borrow R380-million in the upcoming financial year. Xolani Ngwezi, the mayor of the northern KZN municipality, said the loan would be for infrastructure projects and not to pay salaries or to keep the municipality afloat. Ngwezi told a municipal gathering in Esikhawini on Tuesday that they learnt from applying for a previous loan from the Development Bank of South Africa that came late, to apply early to have the money ready by September.
Margate – A resident of Ramsgate in the Ray Nkonyeni municipality is accusing the municipality of putting the lives of his kids, neighbours, motorists and pedestrians in danger by failing to fill up a hole municipal workers dug in his yard when repairing a burst water pipe in October last year.
Umdoni – The DA in KZN has slammed the latest move by the ANC-run Umdoni (Umzinto) municipality to directly petition the Supreme Court of Appeal regarding executive committee seats on the council being changed mid-stream. A seat that was allocated to the DA in November 2021 was later allocated to the ANC. The DA challenged the decision in the Durban High Court and won when it argued that seats cannot be reallocated in the middle of a term. Controversial municipal manager Thabisile Ndlela asked the court to grant her leave to appeal but it was denied on the basis that it had no prospect of success in a higher court.
Greytown – As the relationship between the ANC and the Abantu Batho Congress (ABC) worsens, Philani PG Mavundla, the ABC president has revealed how ANC KZN secretary Bheki Mtolo tried to censor him. Mavundla said when he joined the Indonsa Think Tank WhatsApp group in which KZN political leaders often engage in heated debates, Mtolo tried to dictate to him what to post. When he refused, Mtolo allegedly tried to have Mavundla removed from the group. The revelations come as the ANC is trying to get Mavundla removed as the mayor of Umvoti municipality. In return, Mavundla’s party has initiated a process to get the ANC ousted in eThekwini.
Pictured above: Xolani Ngwezi, the mayor of Umhlathuze.
Image source: Supplied
